Muc Mara - Donegal Bay 11/8/05

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Muc Mara - Donegal Bay 11/8/05

Postby pete » Fri Sep 16, 2005 10:06 am

Decent days fishing today. Tried drifting the usual shingle mark and picked up whiting, codling, red gurnard, mackerel, scad, dabs, dogfish and a rogue squid. Moved onto hard ground close to the cliffs but it was slow with a single ling and some cuckoo wrasse. Tried the clean which was even worse and we only boated a single turbot for four drifts so we moved back onto the shingle and started catching again. Fish seemed to be in little patches, one mans rod would go and almost instantly the other rod would start to bounce. Weather was beautiful though.

Pete
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Re: Muc Mara - Donegal Bay 11/8/05

Postby fisheo » Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:39 pm

pete wrote:Decent days fishing today. Tried drifting the usual shingle mark and picked up whiting, codling, red gurnard, mackerel, scad, dabs, dogfish and a rogue squid. Moved onto hard ground close to the cliffs but it was slow with a single ling and some cuckoo wrasse. Tried the clean which was even worse and we only boated a single turbot for four drifts so we moved back onto the shingle and started catching again. Fish seemed to be in little patches, one mans rod would go and almost instantly the other rod would start to bounce. Weather was beautiful though.

Pete


forgive me for saying this but this place is highlty over rated
fisheo
 

Postby raymondo » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:57 pm

fisheo i'm inclined to agree, donegal bay is past its best, i've fished it regularly for about 10years now and the fish (pollack)are getting smaller and scarcer every year. a funny thing is that they do not seem to fight as hard as pollack taken elsewhere. 5lb pollack at ballycastle were nearly pulling me in whereas just a couple of weeks earlier fish of the same size were coming meakly to the net at donegal bay, odd and i do not even pretend to understand it!
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Postby pete » Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:45 am

Your not far wrong, I've grown up fishing Donegal Bay and have watched it decline over the years but then again that could be said about virtually all areas. There are still good fish there, albeit in smaller numbers but you need to work that bit harder to lift them.

With regard to pollock the average size is well down and some of that blame can be put on anglers, charter boats have been fishing the reefs in the bay for some years and generally virtually no pollock are returned. Crews taking two or three fish boxes of pollock of small reefs on each trip is madness, then we wonder where the big pollock have gone. I'm not one to harp on about catch and release but with pollock I'll take one or two fish for my tea but after that they all go back.

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Postby raymondo » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:10 pm

i always return pollack if possible, in deep water they are often dead or dying so it is pointless putting them back but it realy pains me watching prime fish slowly cook under the summer sun. what on earth it must taste like after 6 hours of this treatment i can only imagine, if i take one at all it is always one caught near the end of the day and gutted immediately - which is another thing if your going to eat the fish (and if you're not, why kill it?) it is always better to gut it as soon as possible
raymondo
 

pollack

Postby steve t » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:37 pm

i agree with pete about the charters, last year i went out on a boat from sligo, when we got on there was a box of pollack left from the previuos trip, when we went on to release pollack the skipper intervened and said he wanted all fish kept, he thought we were mad for not wanting to fill the boat with fish . The pollack out from mullagmore have definatly declined both in number and size, despite what the skippers might tell you
cheers steve
steve t
 

Postby Adrian » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:14 am

when we went on to release pollack the skipper intervened and said he wanted all fish kept,


He had a bit of a cheek.
Adrian
 

Postby x » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:42 am

It really ought to be part of the charter licence that the skipper is not allowed to dictate what is done with the catch, except to promote catch and release and ensure anything with a minimum size limit/protected status is returned safely. It should be mandatory for that to be displayed on the boat at all times to prevent skippers like the guy mentioned from landing fish for sale.

One for the wish list the next time I'm pestering our elected representatives....

An aspect of this practice that many never think about is that this guy is selling fish. This impacts on commercial fishermen who are trying to make a living - I doubt the charter skippers would be best pleased if commercial boats started taking charter anglers out....

This is the sort of reform that recreational angling needs to push for. With our own house in order, it would make it a lot easier to campaign for reform of how fish stocks are treated by the commercial boys.

I wouldn't knowingly use a charter boat that was involved in what is effectively illegal commercial fishing and I'm sure most honest anglers wouldn't either. I'm all for name and shame and would like to see a blacklist of unscrupulous and lazy or downright bad skippers; however this forum is not the place for it, although I don't know where is....
x
 

skippers

Postby Colmm » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:17 pm

Why isn't this forum the place for it?
Colmm
 

Postby x » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:46 pm

Because if you defame anyone in writing it's a criminal offence known as libel. Even if they're guilty of whatever you accuse them of.
x
 

Postby raymondo » Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:47 pm

sandman sorry but you wrong here:-
"Because if you defame anyone in writing it's a criminal offence known as libel. Even if they're guilty of whatever you accuse them of."
if you read news papers you will such defamatory statements made all the time but if the statement is true it is not actionable.
although i agree that no one here would want to get involved with throwing accusations about unless they were 110% sure as lible cases are notoriously expensive! (also libel is not a criminal offence it is a civil wrong)
it is very unlikely that the comparatively small quantities of fish that we are talking about here go to the commercial market they would not be of suitable quality for one thing i cannot believe anyone would pay good money for fish that has been sitting unrefrigerated for a day (pollack is not even a high value fish in good condition). it is more likely that this fish goes to fill crab pots and the skipper might get a pint or two for them.
raymondo
 

Postby pete » Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:41 am

Those fish that stay in the boxes after the anglers head home get sold to the fish dealers and the price per box varies from 70 to 120 euro. Dealers can't get enough of them. The mate works as a filleter and was giving out about the size of some of the pollock that the angling boats were sending in.

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Postby Neil » Mon Oct 03, 2005 12:19 pm

I would be of a mind to clarify with the charter skipper before booking that I either put them back or took them home myself - I he kicks up, go elsewhere
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Postby fisheo » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:50 pm

raymondo wrote:fisheo i'm inclined to agree, donegal bay is past its best, i've fished it regularly for about 10years now and the fish (pollack)are getting smaller and scarcer every year. a funny thing is that they do not seem to fight as hard as pollack taken elsewhere. 5lb pollack at ballycastle were nearly pulling me in whereas just a couple of weeks earlier fish of the same size were coming meakly to the net at donegal bay, odd and i do not even pretend to understand it!


IVE NOTICED THAT THE POLLACK DONT FIGHT AS HARD I CAUGHT A 7IB POLLOCK ON A SHAD FROM THE SHORE AND WAS EXPECTING A FISH OF 3 OR 4IB VERY DISSAPOINTING THERE WASNT MUCH DIVING AROUND LIKE YOU WOULD USUALLY GET FROM SO CALLED FIT POLLACK ALL IT I FELT WAS WIEGHT (MUST ME SOMETHING THEIR EATING). AS FOR CATCH AND RELEASE I HAVE A HOLIDAY HOME IN DOWNINGS AND WAS FISHING FROM THE PEIR WHEN I SEEN A CHARTER BOAT COMING IN WITH ABOUT 7 ANGLERS ON. I WAS DISGUSTED TO SEE THAT ALL ANGLERS GOT OFF THE BOAT AND LEFT 5 FISH BOXES FULL TO THE BRIM WITH COALIES AND POLLOCK, SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE ABOUT THIS

PLEASE QUOTE
fisheo
 

Postby x » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:33 pm

I guess it's up to the skippers to insist that all fish not taken home by anglers are returned/dumped at sea - just to keep themselves from being labeled along with those who insist all fish are kept for sale....

Somebody remind me as I must have forgotten; where's the fun in reeling up pollock after pollock after pollock all day?
x
 

Postby raymondo » Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:05 pm

oh the simple pleasures of reeling in pollack after pollack.............zzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZ i remember those days...happy dayszzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ.
raymondo
 

Postby pete » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:37 pm

Catching pollock on really light gear for a day is excellent fun, using the spinning rod and jelly worm is one of my favourite ways of fishing. The point is that you don't have to throw everyone you catch in the fish box.

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